It is well known to utilize fasteners, such as trim clips, for securing a variety of different types of components together. During the installation, it may be necessary to secure two or more of these components together. Many difficulties may be encountered during the manufacture and assembly of components. For example, various components of products may require numerous and different types of tools in order to assemble the components together. As a result, the use of these numerous tools may be time consuming and costly for manufacturers.
Moreover, the installation of some components may be difficult due to limited access, such as access on only one side of the components. It may be desirable to provide consumers with access to a fastener that may secure the components. For example, a consumer may need access to be able to repair the components, repair the fastener, exchange the components, clean the components, or for other similar reasons. In order to improve efficiency during manufacture, improved fastening devices are needed. In addition, typical trim clip applications have a 1:1 ratio of insertion into the panel opening, versus retention into the panel opening. The U-portion of typical U-style trim clips may open up during retention testing, which limits the amount of retention force to the blade.
Therefore, there is a need in the art to provide an improved and easy to use trim clip that mechanically locks the trim clip at the base of the u-nut and increases the ratio of insertion to retention ratios to the panel slot.